Orange is the New Alison
by emisonxx
Summary: #OrangeisthenewAlison. Emison AU. Two weeks into jail, and Alison gets an unpleasant surprise. Two Part Story.
1. Chapter 1

**Orange is the New Alison**

A/N: Don't hate me for writing another story, I still have _After Christmas, Christmas & Strippers, and Feel Good Drag _chapters halfway done. But I have crazy writer's block now, and kayweston gave me a prompt (before the airing of last night's episode) to write an Emison jail scene just to get my creativity going again. And then I saw Sasha's #orangeisthenewalison and well this two parter is the result. Will post the second part later tonight. Enjoy.

x-x-x

"DiLaurentis!"

Alison's ears perk up at the sound of her name but she barely moves, her mind in a horrible state of depression and her body mimicking the sluggish mentality she's stuck in. She doesn't move around the jail cell much, mostly she lies on her bunk staring at the ceiling as her brain slowly withers with horrible nightmares and thoughts of the life she had and the people she once knew. Nothing feels familiar, and nothing feels sane.

"DiLaurentis you better get up!"

None of the officers are kind to her- and why should they be? This whole town is convinced she murdered two girls and manipulated everybody. The only person to show her a trace of human compassion is her cellmate who protected her once or twice from other nasty in-mates.

This is definitely her hell. She had been sentenced to hell by her own supposed best friends, by Spencer, Aria, Hanna- and oh god, if she thinks of _Emily_ one more time she may try to find a way to kill herself right now. The way the four of them had stood there without an ounce of remorse, without a trace of recollection of their friendship had really, _really_ hurt. Hurt didn't even begin to describe the pain she feels from their distrust and hatred of her.

The blonde reluctantly sits up, looking towards the bars. An officer stands there glaring at her.

"Get your shit together," the uniformed woman says to her and Alison sighs as narrows her eyes warily.

"Where am I going?" she asks and the exhaustion is evident in her voice.

"New cell," the officer tells her sharply. "Now hurry up."

Alison gathers the few belongings that she has- nothing special really, just the bare minimum hygienic products she's allowed to have, and a journal that she's kept for years.

When she approaches the bars, they slide back, and she steps forward, eyes locked with the officer. She can feel the hatred towards her, and she wonders if she's safer behind bars than in public. Mona's mother would have hurt her even more had Hanna not stopped her, Alison thinks.

They approach the new cell, and it's empty. Alison doesn't know whether to be happy or annoyed by this.

"What is this, isolation?" she asks dryly as the new cage opens and she steps inside, wincing at the sound of the bars shutting behind her.

"Oh no, you're getting a new cellmate," the lady chuckles and Alison's eyes narrow again, confused by her amusement.

"What's so funny?"

"I hear she's a feisty one, violent too," the officer rambles shaking her head. "If you ask me they should do a psych eval on her to make sure she's stable, poor thing. She looks so out of sorts."

"What did she do?" Alison is afraid to ask but has to know.

"Attacked a police officer, severely wounded him. Out of nowhere too," the officer shakes her head again and walks away leaving Alison to fearfully anticipate the arrival of some beastly aggressive woman. She's only been in here for two weeks or so, but she's seen the type of people in jail here. And she fears for her own safety because she's already been harassed, physically and sexually.

As her old cellmate had pointed out, she was an innocent looking blonde with an attitude- and there were some fucked up sick people in this place who would want to mess with her. So she tried to lay low, tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible. It was getting easier as more life left her as her weary existence dragged on.

In the two plus weeks that she'd been here, she hadn't had _one_ visitor. Not Jason, not her father, not those so-called friends at school- nobody. This is Alison's form of hell, and she knows damn well she deserves it.

Time ticks by slowly, and the evening passes without any interruption. Alison can barely bring herself to eat anything at dinner time and picks at her food, sitting alone. When she returns to her cell, she crawls into her upper bunk (she prefers to be on top, that way nobody can surprise attack her).

She starts to fall asleep early, and when there are heavily padded footsteps in the corridor she continues to try and sleep. The sound of the bars creaking rattles her, but she tries not to be bothered as she continues to face the wall, eyes shut, hoping her new psycho cellmate won't bother her tonight. The bars shut, and Alison hears silence- the woman must be standing completely still (how eerie of her).

And then, without warning, she hears footsteps approach her bed and her eyes fly open as strong hands grab her and practically pull her off the bunk. She shrieks as her body flails and the woman grabbing her is a blur of brown hair as Alison tries not to fall flat on her face while struggling in the hands of this brute. She feels her body being shoved against the cold wall and she winces, closing her eyes her as her head hits it painfully.

"Let go of me!" Alison growls, and when she opens her eyes her breath gets caught in her throat she stares in horror- instead of a brutish, aggressive woman in front of her all she sees is the ghost of a girl she once knew- _Emily._

x-x-x

Alison can feel her heart breaking all over again. Emily has her hand wrapped around her throat and is aggressively pressing her against the wall, fingers threatening to squeeze Alison to suffocation. Those normally warm, chocolate brown eyes are now dark and frightening, leering at her like a hungry animal. She's afraid to speak, and she's even more afraid to hear Emily speak. Her lips are curled into a feral snarl and her eyes are narrowed with hatred as her hands grasp at Ali aggressively.

Emily had always been like a loyal, protective dog, hence the nickname _Killer_. But Alison had never been on the receiving end of Emily's wrath. And as scary as this is, it breaks her to know that her sweet, loving mermaid has not only turned on her, but turned into _this_.

"Emily-" Alison tries to start but chokes as Emily violently squeezes her neck, and Alison's tiny hands fly to her wrist to try and stop her.

"I don't want to hear my name come from your lips ever again," Emily growls and Alison whimpers at the terrifying energy she can feel.

"Please let go," Alison tries to reason, her voice strangled as she struggles to breathe.

"Why? So you can kill me too?" Emily snarls and Alison recalls the officer telling her that Emily had _severely injured_ a police officer. She begins to wonder if Emily has actually lost it, because this is _not_ the girl she had come to love. The person before her is a broken, sad empty shell with hatred running through her veins.

"I would never," Alison gasps and she feels herself growing lightheaded. "Please let go."

As if breaking out of a spell, Emily suddenly lets go and throws Alison backwards as she steps back, her eyes dull and dead (and Alison wants to cry because she swears Emily can look directly at her and not really see her there at all).

The silence in the room is unbearable. If Alison ever doubted she was in hell before, she was damn sure she's in hell now.


	2. Chapter 2

**E is for Enemy (Emily)**

**A/N:** I lied about this whole two-part thing. It's probably three or four parts now that I'm just casually posting as I write. idk. You guys know I write for you, thank you for all your support as always. It's a true gift. So I'm just deciding to upload as I finish chunks of this particular story. And don't worry, Emily will crack soon enough. Her whole situation will soon be revealed.

To the guest who stopped watching at season 3, this is super AU- Emily isn't this broken on the show/or in jail and all we know is that Alison is miserable in jail.

**x-x-x**

Alison's attempt to catch her breath is the only sound that can be heard in the claustrophobically small cell. Her body sags against the wall as she her trembling fingers come up to touch her own neck gingerly, and she winces- there's definitely going to be bruises tomorrow.

There's also going to be hell to pay tomorrow, and Alison can already see that in Emily's eyes. It's terrifying, really, the way she stares right through the blonde unnerves her. She knows she was cruel to Emily when they were younger, but she's unsure whether she deserves these hateful, nauseatingly empty stares.

She opens her mouth and then stops herself again before she says Emily's name. Ali's a little more than afraid to set her off again. She doesn't know this version of Emily, doesn't know whether or not this Emily will show her mercy.

Alison forces herself up off the wall and takes a hesitating step towards the bed. She locks eyes with the brunette again.

"I'm just going to bed," Alison cautions wearily, inching her way. When Emily doesn't move, she inches a bit faster, and then she breathes a huge sigh of relief when Emily herself turns towards the bunk and gets on the lower one. The blonde can't scramble back into bed fast enough as she climbs up and buries herself under the skimpy blanket she has.

As she lies there, it suddenly hits her- the lingering scent of Emily is on her. Even from their vicious position she had inhaled Emily's nostalgic scent and it made her head spin. She feels dizzy, faint almost- the only person in the world that she had ever been close to loving (she can't admit to herself that she had been in love with Emily) had just betrayed her too. She turns over uncomfortably, trying to bury herself deeper into the blankets.

She hears Emily stir beneath her she strains her ears when she hears Emily mumbling and she can only make out one word. "Bitch."

x-x-x

When morning comes and the guards open the door for the morning shower, Alison is the first one to jump up off the bunk. She hasn't slept a wink, and the bags under her eyes prove it. And then she feels a looming presence behind her, and it's all wrong because Emily should _not_ be the enemy.

When they get there, Alison strips down in the shower stall and is grateful for the pleasantly warm water since on this particular morning she seems to have been one of the first to shower. She almost falls asleep from the relaxing warmth but remembers where she is and sighs, breaking the trance she's in. She grabs her towel and wraps it around herself before she steps out and- holy shit.

Her jaw drops as her eyes peer through a poorly drawn curtain on the stall next to hers and she gets an eyeful of the side of a very wet, naked Emily. Her tan skin looks so smooth and her curves (god, she has the body of a goddess) are so inviting. It's embarrassing how quickly the mere sight sends shivers down her spine and a throbbing between her legs. But then she sees Emily's gaze whip towards her, and she almost gasps as Emily smirks, her eyes dark and unpleasant. If Alison didn't know better, she would say that Emily is possessed. And so she leaves quickly because she can see wicked thoughts turning in Emily's head.

x-x-x

"Hey blondie," some older, frightening looking woman says as she sits down across from Alison at the empty cafeteria table. Alison looks at her timidly before trying to put on a brave front and avoids the woman, continuing to eat her food by herself. "Thanks for saving me the rest of this."

The woman snatches her tray from her and drags it to her side of the table. She can feel all eyes on her, Emily's included (the brunette had purposely sat somewhere she could stare down Alison) and her cheeks turn red from humiliation. She tries to get up but she feels somebody approach her from the side and shove her back down on the bench.

"Oh don't leave," another says as she sits down next to Alison and the blonde recognizes this one as a cruel, aggressive harasser from when she first arrived. They got a rise out of how weak and alone the blonde seems, and she _hates_ feeling weak.

She tightens her jaw and forces herself to stay quiet as she sits still. Her blue eyes seek out Emily, but she sees the brunette staring at her again with those dead, unrecognizable brown eyes. She doesn't look hateful for a moment, but she doesn't look compassionate either.

"You never stay to have fun," the woman continues and Alison feels her skin crawl inside her clothes as the woman's hand lands on the inside of her thigh and rubs aggressively. Unwanted touching was the _last_ thing that Alison had tolerated when she was Rosewood's prize bitch. But she grits her teeth her and shifts uncomfortably.

"I hear you used to be quite the bully," the woman snickers as she rubs Ali's thigh higher and her hand wanders too close for comfort.

But this is too degrading for Alison- she still has an ounce of fight left in her. She can only take so much.

"Leave me alone," Alison says under her breath as she shrugs away the woman and tries to stand up, avoiding eye contact. But it's only moments before she feels hands shove her backwards and she falls with a shriek to the ground, and she can hear laughing and snickers around her.

"Don't tell me what to do," the angry woman snarls and kicks Alison harshly in the side as the blonde yelps painfully and tries to move away out of reach of the woman. Her ribs will surely be bruised after that harsh blow.

"Leave her alone," she hears a faintly familiar voice say and she looks up from the ground to see Emily standing in a threatening stance towards her attacker. Her eyes are dark still and her voice is low, and Alison is completely confused at this point. Hadn't Emily just tried to strangle her last night?

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the woman asks incredulously, and all eyes are on them.

"Look, I'm kind of having a rough life," Emily growls. "So just listen to me and leave her alone."

Maybe there was hope left, maybe Emily didn't _completely_ hate her.

"Fat chance bitch," the brute snickers and Alison gasps loudly as she watches Emily react with lightning reflexes and punch the woman right in the jaw. The whole room is suddenly full of quiet whispers, everyone anxious and tense as the woman recoils and stumbles backwards.

Alison cringes inwardly, hoping the woman doesn't harm Emily too badly for her outbreak. The woman surprisingly doesn't even retaliate, and she retreats with a livid look on her face and the blonde figures somehow that this isn't the last they've seen of her. But everyone else stares at Emily with respect, and the cafeteria slowly resumes its daily business. The blonde looks up to see the brunette standing with her arms crossed, waiting for her. She scrambles to her feet hurriedly (but her side feels like it's on fire).

"Thank you," Alison mumbles still feeling a little humiliated but also a little safer.

"Don't thank me," Emily glares. The hair on the back of Alison's neck rises as Emily brushes past her but pauses to whisper in her ear. "I did it because if anyone is going to lay a hand on you, it's going to be me."

And this time, the shivers that run down Alison's spine as she exhales shakily aren't only out of fear.


	3. Chapter 3

**Pain (Without Love) **

** A/N: **I made kayweston write a paragraph or two in here cause I love reading her work. Also, I really am digging this whole just posting chapters as I free write. It feels free-er. And faster. Thank you to you lovely people, you make my day brighter.

And don't worry, **Emily** cracks next chapter.

ALSO, InLoveWithEmison (since your PM is disabled, poop) if you, or anyone else, have a prompt you want me to write please just let me know! I love one-shot prompts especially because I love just sitting down and writing in one session. Thank you for the kind words dear.

x-x-x

Hours go by slowly. At night, Alison is sitting cross-legged on her bed, her back against the wall, and she tries to alleviate the pain that's burning in her side by using a wet towel as a compress. She can't stop trembling and hissing at the slightest pressure she applies.

She has no idea what Emily's doing below on the bunk and she's afraid to look down much less go anywhere near her. The silence that surrounds them is too thick for Alison to allow herself to breathe steadily. She can hear her own pulse pounding furiously, and being attuned to Emily's actions is not helping.

Alison whimpers unexpectedly as she presses too hard and then clears her throat- and that's when she hears movement underneath her mattress. In mere seconds the silhouette of Emily Fields appears, her gaze bland and empty. But she swears she sees a tiny ounce of empathy in those brown eyes when they linger just a few seconds longer on the bruised area on her side; but it's just a small shadow of her old Emily that breaks through only to be replaced by a stranger in a matter of moments.

"Don't ask me to feel sorry for you," Emily grunts, flaring her nostrils with her eyes fixed testily on Ali as she stands up by the bed, arms crossed angrily.

"I didn't intend to," she mutters but pain is overwhelming her body and all her senses.

"You did, with all your little noises of pain-"

"That's because I'm _in_ pain," Alison protests but flinches as she watches Emily's face turn even angrier.

"You don't know the first thing about pain-"

"You're forgetting who you're talking to," Alison argues back without thinking. "I was on the run for two years from psychopaths, I had my leg sliced open, I lost everyone I cared about- so don't tell me I don't know about _pain_ because you have _no _idea what I've been through."

She takes a deep breath after realizing she'd just retaliated against the ghastly brunette and she shrinks back as Emily's eyes narrow at her.

"I never knew what you went through because you never cared enough to tell me. And now I don't even want to know," Emily tells her with a heated glare. Her fists clench and unclench reflexively by her side.

"Forget about me- what happened to you?" Alison asks in a quiet voice, her gaze softening as she remembers a distant memory of her sweet mermaid. She remembers when Emily would sneak glances at her during French class and look at her lovingly. It made her heart flutter then, though she never told anybody about it.

The brunette merely scowls at Alison's question with spite.

"You lost the right to know anything about me the day you decided to hold on to all your secrets and lies," Emily hisses.

"This isn't you," Alison tries again. "This isn't who you really are."

Emily is silent for a moment, but when her gaze meets Alison's again it's dark and stormy and terrifying. And she doesn't speak.

"Did someone hurt you?" Alison asks desperately and her voice is full of concern but her body is trembling- she can't stand the tension between them and she swears Emily looks like she's ready to kill her.

"Yeah," the brunette snaps her voice wavering for just a second. It's enough of a sign of vulnerability to put Alison at momentary ease.

"Who?" she pries as she sits up and scoots to the edge of the bunk. The blonde stares at her mermaid with a longing sadness and she wants so desperately to reach out and touch her, but she refrains from doing so. She sees someone who's hurt, someone who is utterly _broken _and it hits her hard to know that part of it is probably her fault. This angry, rage filled front has got to be a false guard that Emily has up as a result of some incident that is unknown to Ali.

Because she remembers the way Emily looked at her on the night of her arrest. Her eyes were distant and cold, but they weren't angry. Just empty. Like she wanted nothing to do with Alison but wished it didn't have to be that way. That alone had shattered practically every last bit of self-esteem that Alison had. But this bitter, spiteful and seemingly hateful Emily is hurting her in ways she didn't know were possible.

Emily looks at her warily before she steps closer, her hands landing on Alison's dangling legs as she spreads them apart and steps between them. The rough motion subtly turns Alison on, much to her dismay. Her body is inches away from Alison's and the blonde suddenly feels lightheaded again, she feels dizzy with intense emotion when all she can smell and feel is Emily.

(Truth be told, the brunette has always had this effect on her-it's why she had to push her away to think straight)

"Remember that night in your bed?" Emily asks, her eyes dark and her voice distant. Maybe she's not the only one getting dizzy with emotion. That is, if Emily even feels emotion for her anymore.

"Yes," the blonde quickly replies and shuts her eyes as Emily leans in but brushes her lips over Ali's cheek and leans in to whisper. Ali is terribly nervous and scared, but for some reason she gives in all too easily to the way Emily's body makes her feel.

"It was so easy then," Emily speaks softly, her voice heavy and low causing a heat to shoot straight to Alison's center. "Like you had me wrapped around your finger."

As she speaks, her hands creep up Alison's thighs and the blonde's breath hitches (and it doesn't escape Emily).

The blonde doesn't dare speak, doesn't want to break whatever moment is happening, no matter how fucked up this is. She bites back a moan as she feels Emily's tongue swirl around the outer shell of her ear and she wonders if the brunette can feel her trembling.

"You always kept us dangling though," Emily says angrily and pulls back and the blonde inhales sharply as she opens her eyes and sees the heavy pain swirling in the brunette's. She has a vengeful look in her eye but mostly Alison thinks she looks betrayed. "You had everyone wrapped around your finger. We were all just a game to you weren't we?"

"Emily no-"

"What did I say about calling me by my name?" Emily growls loudly as she gets in Alison's face and watches as blue eyes widen and stare at her in frightened surprise. These drastic swings of emotion and feelings are scaring Alison, and she can't help but wonder if Emily will severely injure her in this cell eventually.

"Please," Alison pleads. She can't take this another second, she doesn't want to see the girl she loves suffering to the point of turning into a monster. "Please this isn't you."

"Did they tell you how I ended up here?" Emily taunts her and leans closer, and Alison suddenly doesn't like their proximity. It's intimidating and unfamiliar and now all she's thinking about is the night in her room where they finally both got what they wanted, or so she thought.

"I was told it had something to do with a police officer," Alison states dryly, her lips quivering as she feels Emily's hand aimlessly wander on her torso. But she cringes and leans away when she realizes Emily's hand is tracing over her ribs, and she can see the threatening glint in her eyes.

"Please don't," Ali whispers as she feels the slightest pressure from Emily's fingers and whimpers, hoping the brunette won't hurt her again. She follows Emily's eyes as they stare at her injury pensively.

But, Alison thinks, if Emily wanted to _really_ hurt her now, she'd let her. She doesn't understand what's going on, but she can tell that something terrible happened to her sweet mermaid. She'd give anything to help because god knows the guilt she feels over everything she emotionally did to Emily eats away at her every day. She never got a chance to really show Emily how she felt, let alone tell her- and now she's worried it's too late. But if there's anything she can do to save her innocent brunette, she will.

"I saw him, and he looked at me. And I swear to god he smirked at me," Emily says as if remembering the incident. "He looked so smug. Just like you always did. He looked at me like he was _taunting_ me. And after what he said to me last time, I just lost it."

"They said he was severely injured," Alison cautiously says slowly as Emily's fingers stay stationary on her bruised side.

"He deserved it, he was taunting me," Emily says angrily and her fingers press a little too tightly. Alison inhales sharply, wincing and trying to move away.

"Stop," Alison mumbles as she tries to catch her breath but Emily's hand doesn't leave her torso, the other gripping her thigh and holding it in place.

"He got what he deserved," Emily huffs (as if convincing herself) as she grips tighter on Ali and the blonde almost squeals as her eyes slam shut in pain.

"Shit," Ali hisses painfully as she tries to shove Emily off but her grip only tightens further, and Alison cries out in agony at the burning sensation.

"You two must have been perfect together," Emily snaps bitterly as she realizes Alison's pain and lets go.

"What are you talking about?" Alison breathes in relief as Emily steps back and their eyes meet once more; a clash of worlds of pain and betrayal.

"You and him," Emily spits out with distaste. "You and _Holbrook_."


	4. Chapter 4

**Lips Talking, No Stopping**

**A/N: **I hope I didn't fuck this up, I've felt brain dead all day. More to come, once I stop feeling braindead. I really hate writer's block. If anyone wants to jump on board and be like "hey I think this should happen" in Feel Good or Uneasy Hearts or etc, please feel free to.

and thank you as always to kayweston I begged her to write three or four paragraphs on here cause I love writing with her.

**x-x-x**

"Holbrook?" Alison squeaks, her baby blue eyes widening with surprise. She should've guessed, should've seen that one coming. A part of her becomes extremely worried that Emily did something out of haste and misunderstanding.

"I think it's against the rules for detectives to sleep with the victims, even if you did spread your legs for him," Emily scowls and Alison watches as lines of mistrust etch Emily's delicate face. "Well I guess he didn't break any rules cause you're definitely not a victim."

Her voice is hard and Alison tries to recover from her initial shock so she can properly counter Emily's accusations.

"What did you do?" Alison asks tenderly, her voice gentle as she tries to be understanding.

But the brunette merely scoffs. "You still care about him."

"That's not an answer-"

"I don't have to give you any answer," Emily bites back and Alison is growing tired of this fight.

"I don't think you understand what went on between us-"

"I think _everyone_ understood what was going on, after the Christmas ball."

"You have _no_ idea-"

"Enlighten me, Ali," Emily sneers as she grabs Alison's hips and pulls her in one swift motion til she's on the edge of the bunk once more, Emily's body pressed right against her between her legs. The startled blonde gasps as their bodies come into close proximity once more. "What were you _really_ doing with Holbrook?"

Her hands gripping Ali's hips slip under the orange shirt and grip smooth skin tightly.

"I needed him for protection," Alison breathes out as she tries to fight the urge to slip her hands into Emily's hair and kiss her impatiently. She's determined to break down this barrier that Emily has up, this horrid, defensive, enraged persona.

"From who? Yourself?" Emily scoffs, but Alison can see the brunette is growing distracted, her eyes wandering over Alison's body.

The blonde finds it pathetic that after all this time, after everyone has used her and abandoned her and attacked her, her body still craves the brunette. Every day she was on the run she missed Emily, missed her smile and delicate touch and sweet behavior. Falling asleep at night to thoughts of reuniting with her again was sometimes the only way she could fall asleep. So it frightens her that even though her mermaid has done a complete 180 and seems to be needing to check into a psych ward, Alison can still feel waves of pleasure run through her at the mere feeling of Emily's hands on her.

The lights in the hallway suddenly shut off and it grows quieter, though their cell is isolated at the hall. Alison recognizes it as bed time, but she realizes her and Emily still have issues to resolve.

"You have to believe me," Alison begs, her voice hoarse and thick with emotion as she swallows and Emily peers at her in the dark, her eyes still piercing and fierce. "I needed Holbrook to keep me safe. My father was never around, neither was Jason, and you all abandoned me while A was trying to _kill_ me. He wanted me romantically, I didn't know how to say no and still have him around. I was all alone, please Em."

"Is that what you did to me? That night, at your house?" Emily asks and her voice sounds strangled, as if she's fighting the urge to scream.

"No, I swear," Alison protests as Emily's hands possessively slip higher. She lets out a gasp at the feeling of her cold fingers ghosting up her torso over her bruise.

"I don't believe you," Emily says stoically with a harsh edge to her voice that cuts like ice.

"Em," Alison tries again with the nickname and watches as Emily's eyes narrow angrily. "What did you do to Holbrook?"

"I was working, and he came in. I saw him and I just...I pushed him through the door of the brew," she says in an empty voice and Alison stares at her.

"Like…through…"

"Like through the glass," Emily's lips curl into a smirk.

"Oh god," Alison breathes, letting it sink in that her sweet Emily really had went too far.

"You know what he told me a week ago?"

"What?"

"He was so smug. He looked at me and said, 'Just because you're bitter, you felt the need to send her to jail. No matter what you do, you can't change the fact that I had her.'"

"What? No!" Ali squeaks, appalled at the lie Holbrook threw at Emily to manipulate and taunt her. She squirms away in shock but Emily grabs at her tightly, keeping Ali still. As the brunette's fingers dig into her ribs she causes Alison to slam her eyes shut in pain. The fire that erupts in her side is explosive, like a wildfire it creates a burning sensation that rips through her. "Emily you're hurting me."

"This is nothing compared to what you've done," Emily leers at her as she lessens her grip once more.

"I didn't sleep with him," Alison protests. "I didn't love him, I _did not_ sleep with him-"

"Who _did_ you love?" Emily interrupts her with such venom that Alison shivers. "Because I don't believe you loved anyone but yourself."

"I risked my life for you," the blonde tries to reason, her heart breaks every time Emily lets her know her distrust. "I came back to this hell hole because you told me to. I've put myself on the line for _you_ more than you know."

"Are you trying to say you loved me?" Emily asks with a deadpan expression, her eyes cold and steely.

Alison pauses. She doesn't know what to say really, she feels like Emily is in a dream and won't even remember this later on. But as she looks at the brunette, she knows she may as well tell her the truth- may as well because nothing can get worse than this horrible situation between them at the moment.

"Y-yes," Alison stutters as she feels Emily's hands ghost up to the side of her breasts.

Before she knows it, Emily lets out a sound resembling a subtle growl, leans forward, and kisses her in a heated passion, their tongues clashing as Emily tries to dominate her forcefully.

And in a few seconds Alison feels heat flowing in her ribcage and between her thighs, her breaths are torn and her eyes shut close only to be opened for short moments, as if to acknowledge that this is happening, truly, every part of it. It's crazy, Alison thinks, that she's still craving it so much, and when Emily's hands touch her breasts, possessively and hungrily, so unlike the Emily she knows (used to know), she moans with an almost painful pleasure and she takes her own shirt off so that she can feel the brunette fully. Emily's eyes darken at the sight of the helpless blonde topless and without a bra, her nipples already quite hard.

The brunette seems to waste no time – she lowers her kisses, sucking and nipping at Ali's neck and then the skin on her cleavage, and then she takes the blonde's right breast into her mouth. Before Alison can process what's happening she feels a warm tongue on her nipple and her back arches with pleasure as Emily's hand lands in between her thighs.

"Shit," she breathes and she bites on her lower lip, all sensible thought going out the door, and that's when she feels her trousers and panties being pulled down by the brunette, all at once. She has to secure herself by leaning backwards, her hands propping her up because she feels lightheaded and weak.

There she is, almost completely naked, with Emily's lips and tongue on her thighs and her hands spreading them, and she can't stop moaning but she has to hush herself, has to remain quiet because this is not the place… this shouldn't be how they do it.

But no, she can't stop when she feels Emily's tongue ghosting on her sex, and her whimpers are replaced by a sudden groan when Emily uses two fingers to tease her, spreading her folds, and she's so wet and hot she thinks she might pass out.

"Ali," Emily whispers into her ear and licks the outer shell teasingly.

The blonde whimpers in response and leans back to peer into Emily's eyes but sees the hint of a smirk tugging at her lips. Yet her brown eyes are emotionless, and she feels the tip Emily's finger circling her clit as if taunting her.

"How's it feel to not get what you want for once?"

And with that, Emily pulls away from her completely, like nothing just happened, like they hadn't just come close to _fucking_. A strangled cry escapes Alison's mouth at the loss of contact and the throbbing between her legs continues on.

She feels a frightfully cold breeze hit her and it's a shameful reminder as she watches Emily crawl into bed that she had just gotten completely naked for, been manipulated by, and played with by the one person in the world that she used to be able to trust.

"Your clothes are on the floor, by the way," Emily sneers from the bottom bunk. Alison's cheeks burn red with embarrassment as she goes to get them, and she catches a glimpse through the dark of how stormy Emily's face is.

So she decides to try and put an end to this because goddamnit she's Alison and that's Emily _fucking_ Fields, the only person in the world that means anything to her. Even though the rest of the girls betrayed her too, the only one she'll take back is Emily, because the real Emily is worth forgiving, is worth everything.

"I know I treated you badly at first," Alison says, her voice thick with regret and pain. "But I changed. I protected you for _years_ and I tried to come back and apologize and make things right. What did I do to you Emily, what did I do to deserve _this_? Huh? What did I do?!"

Her voice is hoarse and full of angry pleading. She watches carefully, straining her eyes to see Emily's through the dark. But she is only met with silence and eerie staring.

"That's right," Alison's voice gains an edge that has the hint of her old self in it. "I didn't."

She grabs her clothes and climbs back up to her bunk, trembling from the day's events and it's one more night that she doesn't get sleep.

x-x-x

Two days later, in the late morning, Alison sits in her cell, bored. She's rereading her old diary, and that's when she and Emily (who has been stoic and despondent, unfortunately, for the past two days) receive unexpected news.

"DiLaurentis and Fields- you each have a visitor."

x-x-x

"You," Alison seethes as she sits down, two seats down from Emily with an empty one between them. They are talking to visitors through a glass- and she couldn't be less pleased.

"Me."

"What do you want, Spencer?"

"Truthfully, I came with Hanna, but I thought I may as well talk to you while she visits Emily. "

"And what makes you think I want to talk?"

"You're sitting here, aren't you?" Spencer smirks and Alison wants to wipe it off her face. "You're lonely because nobody has visited you and you know that everyone has condemned you already."

Her ex friend's words are taunting her. But she can hear Emily and so she deices to focus on her old mermaid's words.

"…I don't care what she has to say," she hears Emily say. She can't hear Hanna but she hears Emily laugh emptily. "Tell her to go fuck herself."

"Hello?" Spencer calls attention back to herself and Alison turns her head slowly with a scowl.

"I have something to talk about," Alison spits back in a low voice. "What the fuck did you guys do to Emily?"

"So you haven't heard," Spencer mutters and Alison notices the way the witty girl's face falls, all rivalry seeming to disappear.

"What happened?" Alison hisses. She's irritated that everyone seems to know something else that she doesn't.

"Ask her," Spencer mumbles.

"She won't speak to me, unless she's taunting me or trying to strangle me," Alison replies dejectedly as her hand reflexively touches her neck where the faded bruises are from Emily's first day.

"Well Paige moved to California and started dating someone else. She told Emily she wasn't in love with her anymore-"

"Are you trying to tell me that Emily went psychotic because pigskin broke her heart?" Alison asks in disbelief and Spencer gives her a pointed look at her use of the nickname. But the blonde doesn't give a fuck, she _hates_ paige with everything in her.

"No it's not just that, her dad-"

"Why did you even come!" Both Alison and Spencer's eyes fly to the other two sitting nearby as Emily stands up in frustration and yells at Hanna, her voice shrill. It catches the attention of the guards and Alison knows this very short visit is over. "I don't want to hear any of this will you just fucking leave me alone already!"

Emily storms off, with the guards ushering her out and Alison looks at Spencer and Hanna, who is crying, before she runs off after the troubled brunette.

She can't catch up with the brunette until they're back in the hallway but when she reaches for Emily's hand, the brunette forcefully shrugs her away.

"Emily, what's wrong?" Alison asks worriedly as the cell shuts behind them and she can feel the nervousness, the panic radiating from her. This has to be something bigger than _Paige_, bigger than something Ali can think of.

She watches as the tan swimmer paces near the wall in a seemingly distressed state and Alison hates how _broken_ she seems. She's determined to fix Emily, because maybe that'll be her redeeming deed, maybe she'll finally be forgiven.

"Babe, talk to me," Alison says gently as she approaches Emily who is getting more frantic like a wild animal. But she gets no response, and so she takes a deep breath before continuing. "Spencer told me about Paige-"

"_Don't_ say her name!"

Alison gasps as Emily grabs her and pulls the blonde flush against her. The brunette's eyes have a heated flame in them, an anger burning bright that Alison can't escape.

"Please calm down," Alison begs as she slowly frees her wrist from Emily's grasp. She can feel the panic rolling in waves off of Em and she can feel her breath on her face, can feel her body shaking. Slowly she brings her hands up to Emily's face and cradles it, wild eyes staring back at her in confusion. "Take a deep breath. I know I'm not ideal, but I'm here for you. Talk to me."

The following silence between them is so thick that Alison feels like she may be suffocating. And then it happens again, Emily grabs her face and crashes their lips together catching Alison off guard and slipping her tongue into Ali's mouth. A throaty moan escapes Alison on accident as she stumbles backwards and her hands scramble to wrap around Emily's neck for stability.

This is bad, this is wrong, this is- is Emily crying? Oh shit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sweetest Apologies**

**A/N:** SPOILER: I ship Ashley/Jason so hard. Ashley has always been my favorite mom. Also that'd be hysterical if Ali were Hanna's step aunt. Anyway, here's a quick update before I sleep. I fucking hate the show for no Emison. Pisses me off. :(

x-x-x

Alison's head is spinning wildly as Emily's lips move messily against hers, but she can taste salty tears falling from her closed brown eyes.

"Em, Em stop," Alison tries to say as Emily guides them towards the bed hastily.

But Emily shushes her by biting down and sucking on her bottom lip, causing Alison to release a breathy moan as her knees go weak.

"Stop," Alison says again gently as she manages to pull away from her mermaid for a moment, her arms still wrapped around Emily's neck. She looks up to see a pained expression on the brunette's face, her eyes teary and her mouth drawn in a thin, determined line. "What's wrong?"

She brings her right hand to cradle Emily's face and holds it gently, caressing her cheek and using her finger to wipe away some of the tears. Emily is silent, shaking violently and it frightens Alison.

"You can tell me," Alison breathes deeply as she whispers. "I promise."

Still, there is nothing but silence and Emily's eyes go through violent transformations from sad to angry to stoic. They look at Alison intensively and the blonde wonders what exactly is going on inside her mind.

"Emily-"

But Alison doesn't have to say more than her name again before the brunette completely _breaks_. Her chest begins to heave rapidly as she starts sobbing uncontrollably and Alison springs forward, hugging her tightly, rubbing her back and kissing her cheek while telling her it's all okay.

She watches as Emily trembles in her arms and she guides her gently down on the bed, taking great care to protect her at any cost. "Shh, let it out," Alison whispers as she pulls Emily down into her lap so that her head rests on her thighs and she soothes the brunette softly.

"I'm here, I promise," Alison tells her once more and she means it. She'll never leave Emily ever again.

x-x-x

Except for while she's at dinner. The brunette passed out after crying, and Alison has to drag herself to dinner without the brunette. She figures if anything she'll try to sneak back something for her mermaid. Ali hopes that one day Emily will finally be her mermaid again. Without all the complications, without jail, without –A.

When she arrives back at the cell, she sees Emily still in bed and so she goes to put her stuff away when she hears-

"Did you tuck me in?"

Ali's head whips towards the bottom bunk as she's about to climb up and she sees Emily staring at her so she nods truthfully. She slowly pauses her actions and directs herself towards Em.

"It gets cold here at night," Ali explains. "And I didn't want you to be shivering."

She reaches into her pants and pulls out an apple.

"I couldn't really sneak anything else back but I got you an apple. If you're hungry, I mean," Ali says shyly and Emily stares at her in bewilderment. Her eyes flicker back and forth between the apple and the newly bashful blonde as she holds it out.

"Thanks," Emily says warily as she sits up, grabs it, and puts it down next to her- and Alison is unsure as to whether or not she should sit down next to her, so she goes and stands up in front of her. She's aware that 'thanks' is the first nice thing Emily has said to her in a very, very long time. She merely nods in response.

"Spencer told you about Paige," the brunette states and Alison nods again. Emily merely bites her lip and turns away. "She left me. Do you know how pathetic it feels when every single girl you ever cared about has _left _you?"

Alison winces knowing that she has played a part in harming Emily's sanity. There's great regret inside her as her body sags slightly and her shoulders slump forward and she bows her head to avoid Emily's eye contact.

"Right when I need somebody it's like everyone just disappears."

Alison struggles to find the right words, doesn't know how to really approach something like this- she's never had to before.

"I know I haven't always been there for you," Alison's scratchy, quiet voice comes out as she tries so desperately to sound earnest and truthful. "But I'm here now, and I want to help."

"How can I really believe that?" Emily asks dryly.

"You know how I still feel," Alison speaks in a hushed, serious voice. "You know that at least."

"I know you want me, physically," Emily scoffs and Alison's cheeks quickly get a red tint to them.

"More than that," Ali adds quietly and Emily looks at her warily, neither acknowledging her nor arguing. She means she wants the old Emily, but she's not so sure her old Emily will ever exist after this- there will always be flawed parts to her sweet girl now. But she's willing to accept that, so long as Emily is still her kind, caring self again eventually.

"My dad…" her voice trails off as she begins to speak, unable to finish.

"Is he okay?" Alison asks, suddenly feeling a knot form in her stomach.

Emily shakes her head, and the blonde doesn't know what to do.

"He…he was injured," Emily's words are shaky and her breathing is rapid as she tries to speak.

"But he's alive?" Alison asks, her hand grabbing Emily's gently and holding it comfortingly.

"He's in a coma," Emily manages to say and the blonde feels her heart drop. She sees Emily's crazy discomfort.

"Em-"

"They said he might not ever come out of it," the brunette's voice is hoarse and Alison can feel the heavy emotional breakdown coming. She can sense the dark energy radiating from Emily still, and so she braces herself because she's going to have to be strong for the both of them. "My mom is a fucking wreck, my dad is probably going to die, I got rejected from every swimming program possible, Paige _dumped_ me and left me, she had to move because of the murders, because of _you_—because of you my life has been a fucking nightmare these past three years, I can't even sleep with the lights off! Maya fucking died, you _lied_ to us and left us all alone while we were terrorized by a psychopath-"

At this point Emily's become a mess of incoherent sobs and tears once more and Alison feels the weight of Emily's words on her shoulders because if she could go back and start all over again, change it all, she would. She'd do _anything_ to fix this mess she's created.

"I'm sorry," Alison whispers, and she doesn't even notice that tears are falling on her own face too. "I am _so_ sorry Emily."

"I didn't get to say bye to my dad, or to Maya, or to you- everything is so fucked up, I tried to do everything right but everything got so _fucked _up somehow!"

Alison launches herself into Emily's arms and hugs her tightly, trying to not leave any space between their bodies because she never wants to make Emily doubt her ever again. Hearing how devastated she sounds is painful, it's like hearing angels cry.

"I didn't get to say goodbye," Emily painfully whimpers out between a strangled sob and Alison shushes her softly, burying her face in Emily's shoulder as she cries with her. She knows that the two of them have been through unbearable amounts of loss and pain. Alison's nimble fingers run through Emily's hair soothingly as she tries to calm her down, and her lips tenderly kiss all the tears on Emily's face before nuzzling her neck. Both their eyes are red and Emily's body is still trembling, her lips quivering with unspoken misery. But, as Alison thinks bitterly, at least misery loves company. Although, there is nobody else she'd rather be with right now. And she knows for a fact there's nobody else she'd do this for, only her mermaid- only Emily.


	6. Chapter 6

**Carry You Home**

A/N: Help, I'm getting sick. :(

x-x-x

Alison leaves the cell the next morning while Emily is fast asleep because she has a visitor- and she is a little surprised to be honest. She expects Jason or her father, but instead she's met with the one and only Hanna Marin. Her lips curl into a smirk and she can't help it- it's natural when she sees Hanna imitating her old style and even her old mannerisms of tilting her head to the side while trying to look intimidating.

"Orange isn't really your color Hanna, so I'm not sure why you keep coming back," Ali says flippantly as she sits down and watches the other blonde's eyebrows narrow in disgust.

"I don't know why I'm even trying to talk to you-"

"Me either," Alison interrupts her with cold eyes. "Because if this has to do with Mona, Hanna I swear to god you can get up and leave right now."

Hanna glares and the silence is thick between the two blonde rivals.

"You better not hurt Emily," is all Hanna says to break the silence and Alison keeps her icy glare.

"I'll do her a lot more good in here than you three ever could out there," Alison snaps.

"I'm serious," Hanna growls.

"So am I," Alison replies fiercely. She doesn't think she's even capable of hurting the aching brunette right now. In fact, if Emily asks her to reveal all her deep dark secrets, part of her is afraid she just might out of fear of losing her again. "Is there a reason why you came here today?"

"I tried to tell her yesterday and…god…I feel like I'm making a mistake telling you," Hanna sighs, conflicted as she runs a hand through her hair.

"If it's about Emily, you can tell me," Alison says solemnly, her eyes relaying the truth to Hanna. "I'm doing my best to take care of her."

"You better be," Hanna bites back and Alison crosses her arms, waiting impatiently. "Her dad…he took a turn for the worse yesterday. And today the doctor said he's not going to wake up."

"No," Alison whispers in shock- she herself has many fond memories of Mr. Fields when he was around when they were younger.

"Her mom's an absolute wreck, she wants to see Emily but she keeps having these breakdowns and my mom is watching over her but god everything is so messed up…" Hanna rambles and Alison notices for the first time how there are dark circles under her eyes and how she leans tiredly on the counter. "And the A threats haven't stopped."

Alison's eyes meet Hanna's as she says this, and she can't help but throw a dig back her way.

"Well clearly it's me, all the way in _prison_ sending you electronic messages with all the technology I have."

She hasn't forgiven them yet for sentencing her to jail, but maybe she should considering the random chances of life have given her a second chance with Emily.

"I'm tired, Ali," Hanna admits as she slouches down in the chair. "I give up. Whatever sick game this is, you win."

"It wasn't me," Ali all but yells as she gets up to the glass as close as she can to Hanna. "This is the last time I'm defending myself but you have all been deceived like blind sheep. I'm guilty of a lot of things but this isn't one of them. You better watch your backs because whoever this is is capable of a lot worse things than I am."

Hanna stares at her long and hard before she shakes her head and stands up.

"Don't hurt Emily or I swear I'll be in there next and I'll rip you to pieces."

She turns on her heels and walks away without another word, and Alison's own nails dig into her skin as her fists clench in frustration.

x-x-x

"Where were you?"

Alison hears Emily's voice as soon as she enters the cell once more. She's almost grateful she has to be locked up at all times, because it means that Emily is forced to be with her.

"I had a visitor," Alison replies truthfully as she walks over to the little basin in the corner of the cell and washes her face with cold water. She turns around to see Emily lying still on her back in bed, staring at the upper bunk.

"Who?"

"Hanna," Alison replies quietly as she pads back over to the bunks and leans on the stairs as she talks to Em.

"What'd she say?"

"That I better not hurt you," Alison replies in a very hushed voice and the faintest smile tugs at her lips.

"She drove all the way here to tell you that huh," Emily mulls out loud. "On a Sunday."

"So what if it's Sunday?"

"That's her favorite day to sleep in," Emily muses.

"She seems stressed out," Ali says cautiously.

"Why? It's not like her life sucks," Emily says nonchalantly and Alison thinks the brunette must be in a state of shock How could Emily not know that her circumstances would be affecting her friends heavily? Or her mother? Old Emily would be so worried about everyone else.

"I think you know why she's putting in the effort," Alison murmurs quietly and Emily's eyes flicker to her warily, challenging her to speak again though she doesn't move an inch. "I'm not arguing with you, I'm just saying. I think you know."

"I think _you _know," Emily cryptically says while staring back at the ceiling.

"What?"

Emily just scoots over on the bunk as if Alison is supposed to climb in. The blonde stares at her momentarily before sighing and relenting. She realizes how hard it is for Emily to even want to ask for attention from her at the moment.

"Move over," she mumbles as she pulls the thin covers back and tries to sit next to Emily but the brunette tugs on her farther arm and Alison tumbles down on top of the swimmer. She fumbles awkwardly to try and straighten herself up but she accidentally makes eye contact with the brunette and sees dark piercing eyes, so she stills. It makes her nervous being this intimately close with Emily, and her heart is pounding so loud in her chest she's afraid the brunette can hear it.

"What was that?" Alison tries to ask in a calm voice.

Emily merely shrugs, staring at the blonde with a familiar fondness before her eyes cloud over with unfamiliarity and her body becomes stiff. Ali can feel the shift in attitude, as if Emily is _afraid_ to show affection, afraid to ask for her compassion and friendship and love. And Alison doesn't blame her one bit- Emily shouldn't have to ask anymore.

But she can also see how _desperately _the brunette needs someone to just hold her, needs somebody to tell her it's okay to be weak for a moment. She's been stepped on by everyone around her and it's time that somebody truly put her first.

So she does the first thing that comes to mind- she starts to attack the brunette with tickles to her sides, her fingers nimbly attacking the tan skin. Alison giggles at the way Emily's eyes widen in surprise and the brunette begins to squirm, trying her best not to laugh.

"Ali stop it!" Emily tries to say but the blonde just bites her lower lip mischievously and watches as Emily lets out a weak laugh.

"Make me," Alison teases back as she continues to tickle Emily's sides and the brunette squeaks while trying to fight back. It's an absurd fight really- two old friends, almost lovers, having a tickle fight in a jail cell.

"Fine," Emily says as she catches her breath and grabs the blonde by her hips and flips her over in one swift move while rolling on top of her so that she is straddling Alison's waist. "You asked for it."

"No fair, you're stronger," Alison pouts and she watches as Emily finally lets a small hint of a grin appear and _god_ she's missed that smile. It doesn't escape her that they are in a fairly sexual position, but she can't bring herself to think about such things right now. All she's thinking about is helping Emily heal.

"One of us had to be physically strong while being hunted by an anonymous black hoodie," Emily tells her quietly as she references how she was the most athletic and fit out of the girls.

"You were the bravest," Alison breathes as she brings her hand up to cup Emily's cheek and she lets her thumb stroke the skin lovingly. A hint of emotion flickers through Emily's eyes and the brunette falters. "Everyone saw you as timid but I knew you were the strongest. Nobody had any idea what you were going through, and yet you were still loyal to all of us. To me, especially."

"I…guess…" Emily mutters as memories flood through her thoughts and she suddenly feels weak.

"You don't have to be strong all the time Emily," Alison tells her in a hushed voice as she tucks a strand of her gorgeous long brown hair behind her ear. Her own blue eyes sparkle with hints of pure kindness that catch the brunette off guard. "Especially not right now."

"I do-" Emily tries to argue but Alison instead pulls her closer and lets her hand slide into the brunette's locks and gently nudge Emily's head down onto her chest. She feels the brunette's stiff body lay still for a minute, frozen on top of Alison as the blonde rubs her back comfortingly. And then, slowly but surely, her mermaid's body relaxes. The tanned beauty sinks on top of the blonde with a sigh. After a long pause, Emily lets out a little mewl of surprise at how comforting their position is.

"You don't have to say anything," Alison whispers gently. "When I was on the run, there were so many moments where I wished I just had someone to hold me. I was always too proud to ask for help, you know that. But I just…I learned how valuable another person can be to me."

"Valuable like in a useful way?" Emily just has to ask because she needs to know this moment is real, that this moment _isn't_ another ploy of Ali's. She can't let her guard down fully if she's worried that Alison's going to do a complete one-eighty any moment.

"Valuable like I keep them close to my heart," Alison admits sincerely, holding Emily firmly.

They lay still like that for a long time, neither moving, their breathing slowly becoming synchronized. Emily adjusts her head for a moment and presses her lips to Alison's neck, causing the blonde's breath to hitch in her throat and her movement to still for a second.

"Do I really make you that nervous?" Emily whispers, her warm breath sending shivers down Alison's spine.

"More than you know," Ali barely manages to breathe out as she shifts slightly, her body suddenly on fire from Emily's on top of her.

"You're scared of it…" Emily comments dryly, assuming incorrectly that Alison was nervous in a negative way.

"Excited," Alison corrects her as she lets her hand on Emily's back slide down to the small of it and trace circles on the bare skin under her shirt.

"I'm scared," Emily admits in a tiny voice as she lays her head back down on Ali's chest, a shudder ripping through her as Ali's nails scratch lightly in a sensitive spot. The blonde pauses and smirks for just a moment before resuming her calming ministrations.

"I'm on your side," Alison promises. "I swear it. I always have been, I just didn't know how to show it."

"My dad…" Emily starts to speak and then trails off. The blonde waits patiently for her to continue. "He always liked you."

Alison laughs a little, sadly, as she hugs the brunette tighter. "Remember he took us to the lake that one day? Just me and you?"

"It was nice," Emily acknowledges in a sad, ghostlike voice.

"It made me wish he was my dad," Alison tells her fondly, squeezing her gently to show sympathy.

They make small talk about the kinder days of their past for a few hours, and it's Alison's attempt to coax out the old Emily. It's not until dinner that she realizes how much progress they made in the past few hours, and she's pleased with herself. But they still have a long ways to go.

x-x-x

"Ali…Ali wake up," the blonde groggily hears as she struggles to open her eyes.

"Hmm," she groans- she was never a pleasant person when awoken, especially at godforsaken hours of the night.

"Are you awake?"

Emily's voice resounds with the blonde and registers after a few moments, so the blonde sleepily opens her eyes to peer at a frowning brunette standing by the bunk bed.

"I am now," she croaks out, her voice thick with sleep and an impish smile adorning her face as she stares at the beautiful girl by her bed. She looks like an angel really. When Emily doesn't speak, the blonde rubs her eyes and tries to assess the situation. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Emily quickly says and shakes her head. "Nevermind."

The brunette just goes right back to her bottom bunk and Alison stares, slightly confused.

Emily lets out a startled gasp a few moments later as the blonde scurries down the ladder sleepily and ungracefully drops onto the bottom bunk mattress with a soft thud.

"Ali-"

"Hush," Alison teases with a smile and gets under the blankets once more as she cuddles right into the brunette. It catches Emily completely off guard because she can't remember the last time Alison has so openly _cuddled _her like a fucking teddy bear. "I'm here, I'm here Em."

And Emily feels her heart flutter for the tenth time that day, because she's never seen this selfless, intuitive side of Alison. She's not sure why the hell she was attracted to Alison when they were younger, because this new improved version of Alison is ten times more beautiful and infinitely more caring. It's such a stark contrast that Emily feels she may be hallucinating.

To be honest, aside from at dinnertime, she forgot that they were in jail. It seems surreal really. When it's just her and Ali, it feels like a different setting altogether.

The blonde's fingers fumble in the dark but manage to grab Emily's chin and tilt her face down, causing her hesitant lips to meet Ali's plump heart shaped ones in a soft, sleepy kiss. It only lasts a moment, but it's sweet and nostalgic.

"I'm here," Ali whispers as she cuddles closer, and Emily cautiously wraps her own arms around the blonde and falls asleep wondering if maybe this is all so crazy it just might be true- maybe this time Ali really loves her too.

Those thoughts alone are powerful enough to drown out nightmares of her dying father, her horrid ex, her scary reality with her friends- all of it. This is all dream like, and Emily is almost grateful.

It's all peaceful, and oddly nice and comforting until they are rudely awoken the next morning by a barking guard: "Fields, get up! Your bail has been posted."

**x-x-x**

**ta da, what happens when ali is all alone in jail again and emily is stuck back in the real word? dun dun dun.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wrath of -A**

**A/N: **I didn't want to keep you guys waiting too long, so in honor of PLL tonight, here you guys go xx

x-x-x

Alison feels an unparalleled sense of peace that she's never felt before in her life as she snuggles deeper into the brunette by her side. Her mind is in a sleep-induced haze, but her body reacts with a desperate need to be close to her mermaid as she sleeps. So the rattling of the bars in the morning is jarring, and her eyes open sleepily until she hears the worst news she's heard in a while-

"Fields, get up! Your bail has been posted."

Instantly, Alison's mind is cleared of all the fog and her eyes fly wide open as she scrambles to prop herself up as she looks at the brunette who looks just as alarmed as she does.

"What?" Emily asks like a deer caught in headlights. She stares at the impatient officer and then to Alison who sees that her brown eyes conflicted.

"Come on, we don't have all day. It's not like you have stuff to pack," the officer barks.

"I…" Emily's words are caught in her throat as reality hits her hard, and she stares at the guard for a moment before panic over takes her. Her gaze falls onto Alison and the blonde aches as she sees how scared the brunette looks. "I-I-I don't want to go-"

"It'll be okay," Alison tries to reassure her but her own voice wavers pathetically as she begins to shake. She just got her mermaid back, and now she's going to lose her again. It's not like there is a good chance of Emily being let out of the house much less being allowed to visit jail.

Just like always, her life is being hit by a whirlwind and what she values most is being ripped away from her. She knows the brunette _needs_ her, she knows because she's the only one who is paying micro-focused attention to her, catering to Emily's every emotion. But she also knows that she's the only one who can give Emily love in the way that Emily wants and deserves it. Alison is smart enough to acknowledge that the three other girls are excellent friends to Emily, but she's never been _just_ a friend.

(And if she's honest with herself, only Emily can give her that love she needs as well)

This is torture, Ali knows- she and Emily just got a taste of what they could finally be like together, positive healing for both of them- and it's going to disappear in the blink of an eye.

"Ali…" Emily can't speak, can't force herself to voice what she so desperately wants to. _Ali, please don't make me go, please don't leave me. I need you, I need you please._ But all she does is stare helplessly, her hands fidgeting furiously with the blanket. Blue eyes glisten with tears as they watch Emily tremble under pressure. "I can't do this."

She wants to add _without you_, but she doesn't know how to tell Alison how she really feels- years of biting her tongue to hold back and hiding her feelings have stunted her ability to say how she truly feels.

"FIELDS! NOW!" the officer barks, threatening to come in and rip her right off the bunk so Alison watches as Emily scrambles over her in an eerily empty attitude and stands up. The blonde feels a little dramatic but she can't help but think that this may be one of their last moments together for a while.

Emily turns around with a pained look on her face to see Alison one more time, and the blonde can't help herself, she throws herself up off the bunk and into Emily's arms, kissing her hard with no regret. She feels Emily shaking against her, letting Alison dominate the kiss as Ali slides her tongue between Emily's parted lips for just a moment before they break apart, both of them unsteady on their feet.

"Don't forget about me okay?" Ali asks in a really insecure, tiny voice that she doesn't recognize. Not that she thinks Emily will erase her from her memory, but the possibility of Emily just forgetting about what they have and blocking it out and moving on…Alison doesn't think she can handle that.

Emily nods robotically as she feels the officer come in and grab onto her arm, pulling her out of the cell. Alison watches, frozen in place, her blue eyes shimmering with tears threatening to spill over.

"It'll be okay Em!" she calls out after the brunette. "Don't forget about us!"

And the bars slam shut, so she walks up to them with a pained expression as she watches Emily walk away. And for once, she wishes she had said _I love you_.

x-x-x

Emily sits dead silent in the car with her mother, and Hanna. The normally smart-mouthed blonde is hushed in the backseat. She had come along to make sure Pam Fields was okay, and to make sure her best friend didn't have any strange reactions in the car.

They're half way home when Pam tries to make conversation with light topics such as school and work- but Emily can't be bothered as her mind remains on the blonde she just left behind in jail and those blue eyes that seemed so honest and sincere. She keeps replaying every moment they spent together and every word Alison spoke over and over in her head. Emily used to question the blonde's honesty, but as she thinks, she realizes how raw and truthful every moment in the last few days had been. And that just rips her apart inside.

But her mind is suddenly re-engaged in the conversation when she hears her mother say something jarring. And Emily looks up in the rearview mirror to see Hanna biting her lip nervously. She isn't sure she heard correctly.

"What did you say?" she asks slowly, looking at her mother.

"I said, thankfully some kind anonymous soul gave me enough money for your bail. I found an envelope with money and a note signed –A."

Emily thinks she's going to be _sick_. If she had any remaining doubts that Alison wasn't –A, they were all gone. –A wants to hurt Ali in the worst way, and that is by emotionally torturing her- isolating her and torturing the ones she loved.

And then, Emily remembers what she had seen that one woman do to Ali in jail (the only reason the brute had stayed away is because Emily had been around). The thought that she had just been manipulated by –A, and of Ali all alone again in jail…

"Stop the car," Emily mumbles, and Hanna quickly leans forward from the back with a concerned face as Pam stares at her with worry.

"What's wrong?" Pam asks and Hanna is quick to put a hand on Emily's back and rub comfortingly.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Emily mutters and as soon as Pam pulls over on the side of the road, Emily opens the door and practically falls out as she crawls on her hands and knees and begins to dry heave.

"Em it's okay," Hanna tries to console her but the brunette weakly shrugs her off before suddenly lurching forward and throwing up all the contents of her stomach.

"Calm down, just breathe," Hanna tries and Emily catches her breath as she weakly turns her head to look at Hanna.

"She's innocent," is all Emily says before coughing furiously and Hanna watches helplessly as she sees tears start to escape Emily's eyes. "She's innocent and we sent her to fucking jail. We could've helped her, we could've, we've been helping -A-"

But Emily can't continue as her body continues to dry heave and she weakly stays on her hands and knees, eventually throwing up, with Hanna sympathetically taking care of her. And Pam Fields watches from the car with a hand over her mouth as she tries not to cry. And she wonders when everything went so terribly wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

**One Month Later**

**A/N: **It's my first-last day of school, _ever_. That scares me :o So I'm hiding out here and wrote this quickly. Poor Emily. Will write more later tonight.

**x-x-x**

Alison limps painfully through the jail's hallway, her body dragging herself forward with as much as energy as she could find. The guard had come to tell her she had a visitor, and the blonde had desperately asked who it was. She hasn't heard from Emily, the only person she cares about, ever since she left. Every day her insecurities eat away at her- has Emily found someone else? Did they all brainwash Emily to believe everything with her in jail was a lie? Is she going to be left to rot in jail alone after her trial? She doesn't understand why Emily hasn't come to visit her. It hurts more than she imagined, she had expected more from the swimmer.

And of course, the guard just grunted and didn't answer her question about the visitor. Alison was _not_ in the mood or physical state to take herself out of the comfort of her cell for anyone but Emily. It has been hell for her without the brunette around. The amount of bullying she's undergone has resulted in severe pain, and the guards just look the other way. The blonde has never felt so isolated.

Or, violated for that matter. It hadn't gotten that bad until a few days ago when the same woman who had assaulted her in the cafeteria, and was continuously harassing her, caught her off guard at the showers. Alison shudders at the thought of the memory and tries to shake it off, burying it deep down in a place she'll only revisit when she needs to get over it. But right now, she has no motivation to.

She limps through the doors to the visitation area, the guard grabbing her arm and yanking her towards a spot along the wall with the glass divider. Alison's tired eyes look for Emily, but is extremely let down at the familiar face she recognizes instead.

"Why are you here?" Alison asks dryly, her voice cracking hoarsely as she sits down slowly. She winces as her body touches the chair and sits stiffly, staring emptily at her 'guest'.

"Jesus you look like hell."

Typical Hanna Marin. The snarky blonde is eyeing Ali carefully, her arms crossed defensively and it's clear she doesn't want to be here.

"Thanks," is all Alison can think of with an eye roll.

"Does anyone else visit you?"

Alison quirks an eyebrow questioningly at the not so subtle blonde. Was Hanna _really_ trying to play detective with her?

"Yes," Alison says, her lips curling into a cruel sneer. "I'm so popular. Sometimes, my evil minions come visit me. I give them their orders and they go out to keep up with the –A game. And then, they tell me you're all miserable and we celebrate. Oh and they're wearing black hoodies-"

"Shut up Ali," Hanna growls and the exhausted blonde just shrugs, getting ready to stand up.

"Are we done here?"

"Spencer will find out the truth, she's going through the visitation log right now," Hanna informs her snidely. Alison feels her insides boiling with anger and betrayal.

"Alright Nancy Drew can look all she wants but she's got her head stuck so far up her ass if she still thinks I'm A."

"Well she doesn't," Hanna bites back in a low voice, catching Alison off guard. "But even if you're not A, there's a lot that you're hiding. And you'd save your own ass over ours."

"So sue me," Alison snarls. "I don't need this from you."

The jailed blonde stands up to leave, furious.

"Fine," Hanna shrugs. "But if Emily came to visit you, we'll find out."

Alison spins around so fast at hearing this. What did Emily have to do with this argument, and why would it matter?

"She didn't. Are you happy now?"

"Right after she got out, she didn't come to visit you?"

"I haven't heard from Emily since the day she walked out of here," Alison grinds out, hurt flowing through her. Hanna carefully stares at the blonde calculatingly as Alison reluctantly sits back down. She decides to explain some more when she sees lines of worry etching Alison's tired face.

"She wouldn't talk to us when she first got out. And then her mom called me one day, demanding to know where Emily had gone. Nobody could find her and nobody had heard from her. And then, next thing we know, her mom had her back and then checked her into Radley before we could see her. Mrs. Fields won't say why or talk to us."

"Radley?" Alison noticeably pales. "What's wrong with her? Is she okay? What about her charges?"

She's too busy worrying to see how Hanna's eyes scrutinize her, examining the way Alison reacts with what seems to be genuine care and worry for their best friend. Hanna doesn't think she's ever been able to trust Alison's reactions, not until now. There's no hint of pretense when Ali

"Holbrook dropped the charges, but nobody knows why. She's getting better I guess. I saw her a few days ago, she didn't say anything at all. One of the few words she said was 'promise me you'll visit Ali'. So here I am, visiting you."

Alison wishes more than anything in the world that she could be stuck in Radley with Emily right now. She knows how much the brunette is hurting, how torn apart she is. Their time together had been mere temporary healing.

"What?" Hanna asks, breaking the silence. It's a strange conundrum to her- she's watching the girl who bullied her incessantly beforehand slowly break because of the mental state of another person. And not just any other person- it doesn't make sense to her because Hanna can't see Ali as anything but a bully, and it almost makes her jealous that her closest friend, _Emily_, is the one that Ali has decided to show compassion for. Because she just can't _trust_ Alison. No matter how much she wants to make Emily happy.

"Can you tell her…"Ali's voice trails off, thick with emotion. She doesn't want to do this, _hates_ that she has to go through Hanna. She knows how protective Hanna is of the brunette and she knows that Hanna may very well not even deliver her words, much less deliver them correctly. "Can you tell her that I love her? And that I wish I said that before she left?"

Alison's voice wavers and Hanna doesn't think she's heard a more sincere request come out of her mouth. It unnerves her knowing the blonde is being raw and honest with her- it's like watching a terrifying wolf start to whimper and cry.

"I'm not going to tell her lies," Hanna says slowly as she stares at Alison's pleading eyes. "I need to know that's the truth."

"I care about her more than I care about myself."

"The truth, Ali."

"That's the truth. I would save her ass before mine."

They hold each other's gaze for a few moments before Hanna nods cautiously. "I'll do my best."

After that, Alison doesn't get another visitor for two weeks, and she's trapped in her own nightmarish world still, alone.


	9. Chapter 9

**Innocent**

Alison sits during her trial, handcuffed. She's never felt more alone- this is her rock bottom. The case doesn't seem to be going in her favor, surprise surprise. Her father is present, but he's like a robot- rigid, stiff, and cold, barely interacting with Alison unless necessary. Jason didn't even bother coming today. Then again, neither did any of her ex best friends, including Emily.

She hasn't heard a word from the brunette or the girls, and, well, she isn't surprised. There is a strong sense of hatred in the room and its directed towards her. Alison knows that people think she killed Mona, but she plays with her hands distractedly as she thinks about how she's gone through hell enough in jail. The dark circles under her eyes and cut and bruised lip are proof enough that she hasn't been okay for weeks.

Her lawyer doesn't look hopeful, and her stomach churns sickeningly at the thought of being sentenced to a lifetime in prison for something she didn't do. She'd never get a chance to redeem herself, to graduate high school, to be with Emily- she feels a pressure begin to build up behind her eyes and she wills herself not to cry because she hasn't cried since the day Emily left. And she doesn't want to cry in front of all these people who could give two shits as to whether or not she rots away in jail forever. There's a very tiny part of her that's clinging to the pieces of her shredded pride- it's what's keeping her sane.

This day, no, this _event_ should be taking her all attention and focus- it decides her fate afterall. She should be fighting for her life. But all that's running through Alison's mind are thoughts of her mermaid all alone at Radley. It's ironic that they're both locked up behind bars at different institutions. She wishes that telepathy was a reality because she'd send her loving to Emily. All her loving.

It reminds her of this moment when they were younger, just the two of them. They had gone to watch Across the Universe together, and afterwards gone to a restaurant near by.

_"The music was incredible, don't you think?" Alison asks as she bats her eyelashes flirtatiously, watching as Emily swallows and shifts in the booth as she tries to maintain eye contact with the blonde. But Ali is leaning forward with her arms pressing her breasts together, her cleavage deliciously taunting innocent Emily. _

_ "Totally," Emily smiles. Her sweet pure smile could sooth Alison's psychotic life any day._

_ "You know what my favorite song was?" Alison asks curiously and Emily shakes her head bashfully, biting her lip as she feels Alison reach out to play with her right hand using both of her own. But her eyes widen as Alison begins to sing softly in the diner._

_ "All my lovin', I will send to you, all my lovin', darling I'll be true," Alison serenades her softly, just loud enough for the brunette to hear. Emily melts as those cerulean blue eyes gaze at her with bright affection. _

_ "What was your favorite song Em?"_

It all seems so long ago, like an entire lifetime ago. The two of them, well all of them really, have aged immensely beyond their youth. She's daydreamed before of a normal life where her and Emily fight like a normal couple over stupid things like who gets what side of the bed. But daydreams don't last long and can't get her truly out of her nightmares.

Suddenly, her ears perk up at the sound of a door opening and footsteps. She turns around slowly in her seat and her jaw drops- in waltzes Spencer, Hanna, and Aria, solemnly sitting down quickly. They make eye contact with Ali but they don't reveal anything with any facial expression.

Alison wants to cry. Three of her friends that she had once slaved over protecting have come to watch her get thrown in jail, there's no other possible reason for why else they are here, she thinks.

Time flies quickly and the court takes a quick break. She remains still, sitting patiently, when she hears "Ali. I know you saw us".

The blonde doesn't want to turn around in her seat, she can hear Hanna's voice but she doesn't want to face the people who threw her in jail and have come to watch her be locked up for good.

"If you're here to gloat, please just go," Alison grinds out in an eerily calm voice.

"It's about Emily."

Alison has never spun around faster.

"Is she okay? Where is she? Did you talk to her? Did you tell her what I said?"

"Ali…" Hanna's voice trails off. "We think Emily made a deal with A."

"What kind of deal?" Alison asks in a grave tone as her heart plummets to her stomach.

"Nobody knows where she went that day she was missing. But I found out from her mom that when she returned, she was a total zombie. She just looked empty. So Mrs. Fields checked her into Radley, and they diagnosed her as in a state of shock. But nobody knows from what. But we got a text from –A today. It said, "As I promised Emily, here's the proof she wanted. Kisses, A."

"Proof of what?" Alison demands as her fists clench and unclench. "And how's her father?"

"He passed away," Hanna says quietly. "Last week. He was alive in a coma for quite a bit but…"

Her voice trails off as she turns and sees Aria standing near Spencer, motioning for Hanna to come join. She immediately turns to leave, and panic settles into Alison.

"Hanna wait! What proof?" she tries to ask but the blonde keeps on walking towards the other two hurriedly. Spencer is talking with the judge, Ali's lawyer, and several other officials. The conversation looks grave and solemn and Ali isn't sure what's going on anymore.

Alison becomes lost in her thoughts once more but before she realizes it, the whole courtroom is in chaos and she's not sure what's going on. The judge rushes up to her post and uses her gravel to call order back to the court room.

"Quiet everyone! Due to the unusual procuring of video evidence that has yet to be confirmed by police authority, the trial is currently suspended on account of Alison DiLaurentis being found not guilty if thore evidence holds true."

The blonde brings her cuffed hands up to her mouth to hold back a cry of relief as she shakes violently, both relieved and at the same time _terrified_. What exactly had Emily done?

As she looks towards the three girls, she sees the same conflicted look on their face. If there's one thing she's sure of it's that Emily _needs_ them, needs _her. _The brunette has gone through a tormented hell and Alison will be damned if she doesn't fight her way out of jail into society and into Radley to see her and hold her again. The last thing Emily needs is to be alone, and Alison feels the fight come back to her- cause goddamn it she's _the _Alison DiLaurentis. And she's more than ready to finally get her girl.

**x-x-x**

**A/N:** Don't sue me, I don't know any more about court than I do about who A actually is. But it'd be pretty darn cool if it worked a little something like this.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ghosts**

**A/N: **I do not like when I have to schedule time for myself to write. Also I read some guesses, but what do you guys think Emily did with -A? I'll post in the next chapter.

x-x-x

"On the first degree murder of Mona Vanderwaal, the court finds Alison DiLaurentis _innocent_ on all accounts."

The court room begins to buzz with whispers and soon grows into chaos but Alison could care less about what everyone is saying. She had finally seen the so-called proof- it was a creepy video shot by –A proving she had left the house and driven to the woods to wait for Cyrus, though she made up some bullshit lie saying she was taking a mental breather because of the nostalgic holiday. The police had managed to verify the video's time stamps by matching the car's license plate with one particular traffic light's camera data in the same time frame. However, she was still under suspicion of having had something to do with the disposal of the body.

She just wants to get out of the damn stuffy court room. Her father doesn't even look at her and it pains her that he doesn't know how to talk to her anymore.

Alison waits patiently for an officer to come unlock her cuffs so she can be free and leave. Her hands itch to touch something familiar, something comforting. And her body yearns for soft comfort that she knows only her mermaid can offer that to her. But she has no idea how to even reach Emily at this point, but she knows for sure it's all she's going to focus on once she's free.

Her cuffs come undone and her hands immediately rub the raw skin soothingly (they had decided to tighten the cuffs extra tight out of cruelty).

"Alison."

She hears her name being said and turns to see her three ex friends standing behind her looking dark and conflicted. There's a part of her that wants to lash out at them, but she'll refrain because she knows that wouldn't be wise. So she swallows her pride and shuffles as she stands to face them hesitantly.

"Thank you guys," she says in an even tone as she makes eye contact with them. "I know you didn't have to show them that evidence, even if you had it."

The three of them nod and Alison does to acknowledge them as well. She turns to leave but feels a hand land on her shoulder, halting her.

"Wait," Hanna says as she stops the blonde in her tracks.

Alison takes a deep breath before responding, calming herself. She doesn't know what else these girls could possibly want from her.

"What?"

"You shouldn't be alone tonight Ali," Hanna says under her breath, and Alison notices that Spencer and Aria have shrunk back a bit.

"You think my dad is going to let me have visitors much less leave the house?" Ali says in a biting voice as she laughs emptily.

"Your dad thinks it's a good idea," Hanna says quietly. "I talked to him and told him we're just looking out for you because people in Rosewood are still gonna come after you with pitchforks. Listen Ali, -A is still playing us and I…"

Ali holds a steely gaze as Hanna fidgets uncomfortably, her eyes glancing to the ceiling and then wall before back to Alison.

"I promised Emily personally that I'd make sure you're safe."

Alison sizes her up carefully, her eyes examining her cautiously like a lion staring at its prey. It reminds Hanna of the old days when Ali's gaze was constantly calculating as if she was analyzing your very being.

"Did you tell her what I said?" Ali asks in a sharp voice as she looks Hanna dead in the eye.

"Yes."

"And?"  
>"She didn't say a word, Ali."<p>

Alison feels her heart crack a bit on the inside, and Hanna can see how it affects her. She shifts as she steps a bit closer to Alison, comforting her as much as she can while still maintaining her distance.

"She didn't say anything the last time I visited her. She'd just gotten the news about her dad the day before."

The blonde looks at her carefully one more time before nodding as if to say alright. "I was the harshest to you before," Alison says in a dry voice. "I'm sorry. But I don't want Aria and Spencer in my house."

"But-"

"No," Alison says firmly. "I trust you because you have Emily's best interests at heart right now and I can see that. But I don't trust the other two."

Hanna looks at her evenly and then glances back at the two before looking back at Alison.

"Alright, fine."

x-x-x

"I'll be okay," Hanna insists in a hushed voice and Alison rolls her eyes because she can still hear, prison didn't make her deaf. It just made her a lot more apathetic about people, except for Emily. It's also a little jarring to her how little her father seems to care for her- he can win Rosewood's worst parent of the year. He barely hugged her after the trial and said that Hanna wanted to drive her home so he was going to stop at his office (and now Alison sits in the passenger seat while Hanna lags outside on the phone).

She was always her father's favorite, she remembers, but somewhere along the line he's changed. Business had always been his priority, but he'd made time for his little girl. Things weren't the same anymore.

The driver's door opened and Alison watched as Hanna slid in hesitantly to her car.

"So is Spencer going to be spying on us from her bedroom window?" Alison asks snidely, knowing the two girls were worried about Hanna.

"Something like that," Hanna shrugs nonchalantly as she puts on her seatbelt and Alison sighs as she turns to stare out her own window, ignoring the other girl. They begin to drive silently when Alison turns to Hanna, the wheels turning in her head.

"Change of plans."

Hanna looks at her out of the corner of her eye, suspicion creeping across her face as she tries to focus on the road.

"Take me to see Emily."

"Alison I don't know if I can-"

"_Please_ Hanna, I'm begging you," Alison pleads as her hoarse voice scratches while she looks earnestly to her old friend. She needs to see her mermaid, _now_. Because Alison doesn't want to go home to an empty house, doesn't want to sit around with Hanna for hours of awkwardness. She wants to prolong that as long as possible. The rebel blonde sighs quietly and looks at her long and hard.

x-x-x

"Will you stop tapping your foot, you're making me nervous," Hanna snaps as they sit in the waiting room of Radley. Alison rolls her eyes at the harsh words and continues to fidget even more. They told the girls to wait to see if Emily was cleared to have visitors.

A nurse approaches them.

"You girls may follow me this way to the visiting room."

Alison jumps up out of her seat, eagerly. And though she notices the way people look at her with distaste, she can't be bothered when her mermaid is on the other side of the doors.

Every nerve inside her is on fire with anxiety and she can feel it grow as she takes every step. She thinks back to their few days in jail and wonders if the brunette still thinks of her lovingly, she has to if she made Hanna promise to take care of her. Alison isn't sure why she's afraid of being turned away, but she supposes it's because she's turned Emily away so many times before when they were younger that she assumes the same will be done to her.

Yet every thought dissipates as the door opens and she almost pushes past the nurse and sees a glimpse of Emily. The brunette is sitting on a couch, her body angled away from them as she looks out the window giving Alison a side view of her beautiful face.

Alison isn't aware whether Hanna is a step behind her or three steps behind, or where the nurse is- she simply is focused on the girl in front of her as she wills her feet to move forward.

Her lips open as she approaches but she can't bring herself to say anything.

She is steps away from Emily when the brunette turns to look in her direction and their eyes lock painfully revealing Emily's dead, empty brown eyes.

The blonde doesn't realize she lets out a soft gasp as she quickly minimizes the little distance between them and kneels down on one knee in front of Emily.

The tan skinned beauty stares at her, her expression blank as her eyes flicker across Ali's body.

"Hi," Alison whispers softly as she brings a hand up to gently cup Emily's cheek. "I missed you so much."

Hanna watches with her jaw dropped in the distance as Emily slowly tilts her head and leans into Alison's touch, nuzzling her hand almost. She has to bite her tongue at the thought of Alison treating Emily like a dog- she knows that's not true (or at least it better not fucking be) but it's incredible to her how much feeling there is between the two with a simple touch.

Alison feels the brunette's slight nudge and smiles faintly.

"I'll be here every day to visit," Alison tells her firmly. "I don't care what anyone tells me to do or anything like that. I'll be here, and I'll be there when you leave this place. Unless you don't want me there."

Emily doesn't say a word and Alison hums, pleased.

"Good, because I want to be there for you. I have to tell you about jail, oh god Em it was awful without you there," Alison says in a hushed voice, her blue eyes filled with emotion. She watches as Emily's eyes darken and the faintest expression of worry comes across her face.

"I'm okay now," Alison states softly. "Do you want to talk about anything? Do you need anything?"

Emily merely shakes her head hesitantly and Alison launches herself up, surprising Emily with a tight, quick hug.

"When you do, I'll be here," Alison tells her with a strong conviction behind her words. "From here on out. Always."

Hanna's jaw drops even further as she watches Emily lean forward and grab Alison's face to kiss her hard and fast. It's barely a few seconds before she pulls away.

The blonde's eyes blink rapidly, and she's scared by how empty the kiss feels. She feels out of sorts as she looks directly into Emily's eyes and sees a heavy, guarded pain brewing in them. "What happened to you?"  
>She barely breathes out the question and she isn't sure that Emily hears her.<p>

"Alison we have to go," Hanna says from the doorway uncomfortably, not wanting to break the silence but she had promised the girls and Mr. DiLaurentis that they'd be back at a certain time.

"Get out of here fast," Alison pleads as she squeezes Emily's hand and kisses her cheek, her lips lingering for just a moment before she forces herself to stand up.

With that, Hanna and her exit. And after seeing Emily, Alison now believes ghosts exist in the form of broken humans, looking for someone to call home.


	11. Chapter 11

**Fifty Shades of Fucked Up**

A/N: I saw fifty shades of grey. Lame. Based on twilight fanfiction? Imagine how a movie based on emison fanfiction would be, oh my god. Anyway, sorry it's taking me a long time to update, sincere apologies. But I have the next chapter of this almost finished, and the next chapter of christmas and strippers at 2k words, so I'll be posting it soon. ALSO someone gave me an awesome prompt and i'll be posting that soon.

Also, i'm throwing fifty shades of "wtf" to the PLL writers because they suck at the whole emison one jail visit?! Come on.

**x-x-x**

"They were still in the happier stage of love. They were full of brave illusions about each other, tremendous illusions, so that the communion of self with self seemed to be on a plane where no other human relations mattered. They both seemed to have arrived there with an extraordinary innocence as though a series of pure accidents had driven them together, so many accidents that at last they were forced to conclude that they were for each other. They had arrived with clean hands, or so it seemed, after no traffic with the merely curious and clandestine," Alison's soft voice spoke sweetly as she read _Tender is the Night_ to Emily during her fifth visit to Radley

If she could stay longer than half an hour, she would. But she's only allowed half an hour every day. On her second visit, she had described what she wanted to do in Paris together in great detail.

"We could spend an afternoon having a picnic in front of the Eiffel tower," Ali had mused. She had rambled about French bakeries and bike rides and sight seeing. Emily had said nothing.

On her third visit, Alison had brought magazines and attempted to update both of them on pop culture and socially relevant items. Still no expression from the brunette.

The fourth time she visited she vented to Emily about how she doesn't trust the girls. It's only when she cracks a joke about Hanna's typical big mouth that Emily smiles for the first time. Alison thinks it's an improvement- she's missed that beautiful smile.

Today, she brought a book to read. _Tender is the Night_ is one she started while on the run and never managed to finish. So here she is, sitting cross legged on the couch next to her mermaid in Radley.

Emily shuffles as Alison reads, and the blonde's blue eyes look up to examine the tan brunette. She sees complicated emotion swimming in those big brown eyes she's grown to love, and she doesn't understand why Emily's body seems to be tense and guarded still around her. The blonde sighs as she looks back at her book and tries to find her place again as she reads about happy moments that describe how she felt when she first laid eyes on the brunette years ago.

"I get out tomorrow."

Alison whips her head up with wide eyes and an open, surprised mouth as she stares at her mermaid. Those are the first words she's heard her speak, and it's been so long since she's heard that voice. Her normally sweet tone was dry and her voice was slightly hoarse but Alison would take it.

"You do?" she asks with glee before frowning slightly. "I start school the day after. So I have to mentally prepare all day for that."

Emily merely nods, but Alison feels hope radiating through her. This is it. They'll both be free and home. They're gonna have a real chance at life together, she hopes.

"Come home safe," Alison whispers as she leans into Emily and kisses her forehead gently. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," Emily mumbles so quietly Alison can barely hear her- but she'll take it. And it's funny, because she can't wait to see both of them in non-confinement clothes. Because god knows both of them are beautiful and neither orange nor drab white are their colors.

x-x-x

It's her first day back- and Alison wishes her father just let her stay home. But he's insisting upon a normal life for her (which is a joke, because her life can never be normal ever again). And as she feels people's leering stares upon her, feels their contempt- she forces herself to maintain her stoic expression while walking the halls.

"What's your next class?"

She hears Hanna's voice from next to her and turns to see the frazzled blonde staring her down intently, waiting for her answer. Hanna had voluntarily walked with her to school, and to class, _and_ sat down next to her in class. She was proving to be quite loyal.

"English, why?"

"I'm worried," she informs her nervously. "I don't have English with you-"

"It's okay," Alison comments gently. "Really. You've done more than enough for me."

Hanna looks a little hesitant, her face caught off guard by Alison's kindness. She'd never really been on the receiving end of the ex alpha blonde's warm side.

"I just don't want something to happen to you," Hanna mumbles as she stares off in the opposite direction, unwilling to show fully reveal her caring side. "We have a lot of…hateful people in school."

"I'll be okay," Alison reassures her. The other blonde nods and still looks unsure as to whether or not she will be. But she decides there's nothing else she really _can_ do. "Wait, Han?"

"Hm?"

"Have you…uh…have you heard from Emily?"

"Not yet," Hanna shakes her head sadly. "You?"

"I didn't try to visit yesterday," Alison explains as her facial expression falls a little and her shoulders seem to sag slightly. "I don't know what her mom would do if she saw me."

"She knows you visited Emily in Radley, it's not confidential information," Hanna says with a smile. "And she never said anything about it. So that's gotta be good, right?"

"I guess. I'll see you later Han," Alison says as she realizes she'll be late for English.

She walks off down the almost empty hall, turns a corner, and bumps straight into-

"Well, well, well, look who decided to show their face here again?"

The tiny blonde gasps as Noel Kahn menacingly steps into her, aggressively getting in her face.

"Leave me alone," she demands quietly as she tries to go around him. He rolls his eyes as she shuffles past him and she feels a strong hand grab her wrist suddenly and whip her backwards so she's in front of him once again.

"You're done telling me what to do," he growls and she's suddenly afraid for her own life as she sees the bloodlust written all over his face. She can recognize a person ready to be a stone-cold killer, and Noel's pretty eyes have become dark and empty of emotion except for rage.

"Don't do this," Alison pleads but she gasps as Noel brings one hand up to cover her mouth and uses the other to push her against the lockers. Alison feels Noel shoving her against the wall aggressively, his body pressed up tight against her and she begins to get claustrophobic really quickly.

"Stop-mmmmf," her muffled cries are lost as his domineering position heightens as he brings his hand up to her neck and begins to choke her.

"Maybe this will keep you from threatening people, maybe you'll finally shut the hell up," Noel threatens with an eerie look in his eye. Alison struggles to breathe, trying to gasp for air as he replaces his hand with arm, bruising and shoving hard against her throat as his other hand attempts to rip her shirt off, but he only pulls it up halfway, exposing her bra.

"Pl—e—as-e," Alison chokes out painfully as she begins to grow dizzy.

"Just be a good little whore for once," he growls. "You were always such a fuckin' bitch. You're gonna get what you deserve."

And the blonde is terrified that he's going to carry out his threat in the middle of the hallway when everyone is in class and nobody can hear her. The ironic thing is, the only class room nearby is empty. And he seems to pick up on that as he eyes it.

"Let's get out of here, Ali, just like you always wanted-"

But the psychotic boy doesn't have a chance to finish. Alison gasps for air as she feels Noel being ripped off of her and she sees none other than _Emily_ throw him to the other side of the hallway with such force that his impact with the locker echoes loudly.

The brunette's chest is heaving with fury as she stands up straight, surprised at her own strength. Her chocolate brown eyes are dark and Ali can feel the protectiveness flowing through her and rolling off in waves. But something's off- it's a little _too_ protective, a little too aggressive. Still, she's not even sure what Emily is doing here but she's damn happy she is.

"Em?" Ali asks breathlessly, and the brunette silently picks up her books, and hands them to her, eyes blank. She silently smoothes out the blonde's shirt so it rests properly on Alison once more and then turns back to look at a seething, angry Noel on the ground.

"Hey dyke, watch out or I'll get you and the bitch both," Noel threatens and Emily glares at him with fury. The brunette angrily storms over to him and brutally kicks him right in the chest, a cry of pain escaping him and Emily looks at him with no remorse. She brings her foot back again and kicks him one more time harshly in the ribs. But she feels Alison's eyes on her from behind, and sure enough the blonde is nervously watching- this isn't right.

"Not worth it Em," Alison pleads from behind her as she grabs onto her arm. The brunette feels Alison's thumb gently rub her skin and she lets out a shaky breath as she forces herself to rip her gaze away from Noel.

"Let's leave," Emily mumbles ripping her arm away from the blonde and Alison quickly follows her out of the hallways and out the front door of the school. So much for being normal and back at school.

x-x-x

"Are we gonna talk about it?" Alison asks as they sit on her front porch, the mid day sun giving them warmth. But they're sitting so close together they don't really need any extra warmth. Emily is leaning sideways against the railing, her eyes distant and far off and Alison is practically curled up in her lap, her head against her collarbone. She's trying to show Emily affection, but it's as if the brunette won't have any of it.

"Do we have to?"

"I think so," Alison says quietly. "Not all at once. But, the last two months were hard. I was in jail, then you were in jail, and then you got out, and I was all alone, and then all of a sudden you were in Radley and –A and it all makes my head hurt."

"Do you ever feel like nothing can be the same again?"

"I hope so," Alison whispers quietly. "Because I don't ever want us to not be together ever again."

"You know what I mean."

"Things will get better, Em."

"My dad is dead."

It's the first time she's heard the brunette really talk about her father at all since jail- and it's painfully hard to even hear those words come out of sweet Emily's mouth.

"I know," Alison says softly as she cuddles harder against the brunette until their bodies are pressed so closely together it's hard for the brunette to breathe. A few minutes pass in silence, and Alison begins to grow restless. "Em?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you do to get the evidence?"

She feels the brunette stiffen completely.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Em-"

"I don't want to fucking talk about it!"

She shoves Alison off of her and stalks off, leaving Alison in shock.

"Emily wait!" she calls as she runs after her, unwilling to let the brunette suffer alone. But as she reaches the brunette and grabs her arm, she feels Emily turn around and violently push her backwards, causing her to fall on the grass with a shriek.

"I don't want to talk about it," Emily seethes and Alison looks at her with hurt and confusion. "I got you out of jail, isn't that enough? Don't force me to tell you anything!"

With that she runs off, and Alison realizes she was stupid to believe that it'd be so easy for them to restart everything. Things are just as complicated as they were back in that jail cell, and this isn't the start of a new beginning- this is the messy complicated beginning of the second act.


End file.
